Lightning News

Bolt from the Past: Brian Bradley

by
Staff Writer
/ Tampa Bay Lightning

Sometimes you stumble upon something on the internet you just have to share.

This article on Brian Bradley from LastWordonSports.com does a great job of looking back at Bradley's career and what he contributed to those early Lightning teams. The series focuses on players who haven't made the Hockey Hall of Fame but probably should have received some consideration.

Here's an exerpt from the article on Bradley's stellar season in the Lightning's inaugural season.

Maybe it was the sunny weather down south, or the opportunity for a fresh start, but for whatever reason Bradley had an offensive explosion during the Lightning’s inaugural 1992-93 campaign. Playing nearly a full season (80 games) for the first time in his career, Bradley notched 42 goals and 86 points on the way to his first all-star game and blowing his previous career highs out of the water (in fact, he had already surpassed his previous highs by the time he played in that 1993 all-star game in Montreal). Both totals were obviously Lightning club records, and would remain so for at least a decade until St. Louis rose to prominence.

As it stands, it was one of the finest seasons by a player in franchise history, and also one of the greatest turnarounds we’ve ever seen in an NHL career. He increased his goal total by 32 over the previous season in Toronto, and his point total by a whopping 55. Not only was he the team’s offensive leader on the ice, but he was also an assistant captain, a role he would play on the Lightning until his retirement.

Bradley followed that up with a solid, if unspectacular, 64 points in 79 games, but injuries were beginning to take their toll. Over his remaining four years with the franchise, Bradley would only post a point per game season once more (79 points in 75 games during the 1995-96 campaign, in which he helped lead the Lightning to their first-ever playoff berth) before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 33.